


Gods and Monsters

by Supertights



Category: The Great Zoo of China - Matthew Reilly
Genre: Dragons, Food is People, Gen, Not Beta Read, Short One Shot, Spoilers, Wordcount: 100-500
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-17
Updated: 2014-12-17
Packaged: 2018-03-01 21:40:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2788676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Supertights/pseuds/Supertights
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hu Tang wanted his Great Zoo of China to be the greatest in the history of human civilisation but it was a mistake thinking humans could ever be smarter than the zoos inhabitants.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gods and Monsters

They called her a ‘Prince’.

When she was safely among her clan, she would laugh, high-pitched and sibilant, at being called 'Prince' by the black head female who gave her instructions and rode on her back with impunity. She no prince amongst her kind, she was a drone in the Explorer class, a dragon tier whose sole purpose was to scout for and establish the environmental conditions suitable for a larger hatching and then provide food for the waking young.

Lucky was not the name that she had been born with though. As a drone, she didn't have a name, and wouldn't ever see an opportunity to even earn a name from the Masters. To be named outside of your birthright was unheard of in the dragon species, so much so that many other drones had been equal parts enraged and envious of her naming by the black heads.

That other dragon princes began naming themselves, particularly among the Red-belly Black clan, did not escape her notice.

It was simply one of a long litany of crimes that the other dragons had accused her of. Conspiring with the enemy was the worst and being an overfed lap-dragon was merely the least insulting. Learning to survive the numerous jousts that then met her every move became a necessity. The black heads tried to discourage jousts that involved her, she didn't understand why, and it served only to enrage the other dragons.

She was not disliked among her own clan though. The other Yellowjackets loved her as she much loved them. They desired a simple life of feeding and sleeping in the sun, they were not lazy or gluttonous but content to feel the winds under their wings, the taste of large fatty fish or plump mammals in their bellies, and a solitary den far from other dragons. To be alive at all after so long was all that mattered to a Yellowjacket.

That inbred desire for an undemanding life didn't mean that she, or any of her clan, would turn down a joust, or not be swift to invite one, to protect their small corner of the zoo. They were as territorial as any other clan and were quick to meet any attempt to occupy their lands. They observed the small visitors as attentively as they watched the other clans, with alert self interest.

The device that allowed Lucky to communicate with the black heads was frustrating for her though. She desired a level of social communication that was denied by their lower intelligence. She was limited to phrases that could be easily translated from her language to theirs and vice versa. With no commonality of body language, she couldn't understand them as deeply as she wanted to.

To the rest of the dragons in the zoo, this wasn't accepted behaviour though, one simply didn't converse with food.

**Author's Note:**

> I've used the canon phrases of description, it's not always choice language though. I took liberty with canon, hopefully not too noticeable.


End file.
